Gen Y: Follow the Paperless Trail

One of out of five Gen Y’ers has never written a paper check and diverse electronic channels are increasingly the way to serve this demographic, a new study concludes.

The Money Mindset Index from Western Union Bill Payments also found that 64% of Gen Y’ers pay half or more of their bills electronically, 55% plan to pay more bills online in the next six months and 74% prefer to receive paperless statements.

So how to best capture and retain this demographic that increasingly doesn’t deal with paper coming or going?

“Although Gen Y is outpacing other age groups in adoption of mobile money management tools, and 21% percent have never written a check, they still embrace choice and flexibility in their bill payment options,” Shapiro added.

He recommended that credit unions provide bill payment options that include comprehensive channels and payment methods that help to promote convenience, satisfaction and on-time payments.

“Leverage these channels to offer text alerts and email reminders, and become a partner in helping busy Gen Yers manage their finances and pay bills on time,” the Western Union executive said.

The data came from a March 2013 study conducted in March 2013 by Javelin Strategy & Research among 3,202 respondents selected in representative proportions of geography, gender, age, income and ethnicity. The margin of error was 1.73 percentage points, Western Union said.